


let me look at the sun

by Sparrows



Category: Hades (Video Game 2018)
Genre: Gen, Set Pre-Game
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-30
Updated: 2020-01-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:20:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22472479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sparrows/pseuds/Sparrows
Summary: Thanatos has a question to ask of his lord and Master. The response he gets is... less than ideal.
Relationships: Thanatos & Zagreus
Comments: 3
Kudos: 112





	let me look at the sun

**Author's Note:**

> no i don't know where i was going with this either, take this as it is (it's definitely Pre-Relationship, thanatos is just oblivious to little things like "having a crush on his best friend"

Thanatos had been pacing along the west-hall corridor for the better part of an hour now. He could feel the concerned gaze of Achilles heavy upon him, but the shade made no move to intercept and ask about his feelings, for which Thanatos was deeply grateful. He curled and uncurled his hands at his sides, he fidgeted with the edge of his chiton, he took a deep breath - and then he turned sharply on his heel and strode up to the edge of Hades’ desk.

“Pardon me, my Lord. Do you have a moment to spare? I... wish to ask something.” He spoke carefully, weighing each word as it left his mouth; Lord Hades had been in an irritable mood all morning now (or at least, Thanatos _assumed_ it was morning) and he hardly wanted to make it worse.

The mounds of paperwork around Hades, for all that he’d been working on them nigh-constantly as of late, hardly seemed diminished from the last time Thanatos had stood before him. He leaned heavily on one elbow, rubbing at his bushy brows with two fingers as if attempting to ward off an impending headache.

“I might,” he said, more a grunt than a real sentence. “We shall see.” He made a few last marks on his current scroll before rolling it up, brisk and efficient, and then he reached for a wax stick and stamp with which to seal it. Thanatos rocked back on his heels, resisting the urge to tap his feet; he could ill afford to anger the great god of the dead, not when so much was at stake.

Finally, Hades was done, handing the sealed scroll off to the meek scribe-shade seated beside his desk, and he sat forward. “And to what do I owe this intrusion, Thanatos?” His lip curled beneath the thick, bushy moustache, his displeasure at having his work put on hold even so briefly plain to see. “I trust you have good reason for it.”

Thanatos swallowed. A cold sweat suddenly prickled at the back of his neck, and he found himself tapping his bare fingers along the cool metal of his blade’s hilt. “I - I was just wondering. Zag... Zagreus,” he hastily corrected, “has asked if I could perhaps take him with me the next time my duties take me to the mortal realm.” He swallowed again - his mouth felt much too dry, tongue cleaving to to the roof of it - and kept his gaze focused on the rings that glittered on each of Hades’ thick fingers, rather than risk looking any higher. “I thought it wise to seek permission beforehand.”

Hades did not reply immediately. His fingers curled into fists against the surface of his desk, the quill he’d been holding flexed in his grip and seemed dangerously close to breaking in two. Thanatos shifted his weight from one foot to the other, almost certain that he could feel the ground rumbling ever so slightly beneath his souls; there was a weight, a tension in the air that reminded him of watching the land churn and heave in the moments before it split open.

“I suppose Zagreus pestered you into this, did he?” Hades sneered, the name of his own son dropping from his word like some terrible curse. “Insufferable brat. Always pushing for more than he’s given - more than he’s _earned_.” He shook his head. “Perhaps if he did an honest day’s work around here, he might see where his place in this world _truly_ is, and cease bothering all those around him.”

Thanatos sucked in a breath and took one hesitant step forward. “My lord,” he began, “it would only be the once. He could observe my work. It might - I don’t know - inspire him to do more down here.” Truthfully, Thanatos couldn’t imagine anything of the sort; Zagreus reached for the surface world the way Tantalus grasped at water, and the moment he had two feet on living earth he’d no doubt take off running. But if it put a smile on his face - if it made him _happy_ \- surely that was worth it?

Hades scoffed. “I’ve tried everything that I know, Thanatos. I hardly think giving him exactly what he _wants_ will make any-- wait.” His eyes narrowed and he glared downwards at Thanatos, who shrank back a step in surprise. “It’s those _gifts_ of yours, isn’t it. Filling his head with this - this ridiculous _nonsense_.”

Mortals, in their grief, seldom noticed things going missing, and the market-stalls and shops they tended were so cluttered to begin with. It had only ever been small things: books on any subject under the sun, trinkets, anything he thought Zag might find interesting or entertaining. It had felt the closest to an adequate apology for being gone so often with work, and each gift made him so happy that it kindled something warm in Thanatos’s chest in turn.

Hades brought the flat of his palm down upon his desk with a resounding wham, the noise jarring Thanatos from his thoughts. Instinctively he stood straighter, looking upwards. “You’re being too soft on the boy! He’s too childish as it is - weak-willed, oafish, too concerned with the affairs of mortals - and you only _encourage_ him!” Hades bellowed, brow drawn low and heavy and his mouth twisted into a snarl. The floor beneath Thanatos’s feet trembled; the candle-wicks all around flickered as they wobbled on their perches. “How do you expect him to learn his place when you give him all these foolish ideas? His place is _here_ , not frolicking in the sun with mortals!”

 _I just want to see him happy,_ Thanatos wanted to retort - but instead he bit his tongue and lowered his gaze. He could feel a hot flush of shame creeping up from his collar towards his cheeks; Hades hardly ever had cause to raise his voice at him like this, and it wasn’t an experience Thanatos particularly enjoyed.

“I understand, my Lord,” he murmured. “I... I apologise. No more gifts, I swear it.” The words tasted bitter and ashen on his tongue, even as his voice took on the barest edge of a waver.

Hades grunted, his anger subsiding, apparently satisfied - either with the answer itself or simply the immediate obedience, it was unclear. “Good. At least _somebody_ in this House listens and obeys.” He glared pointedly over Thanatos’s head, towards the corridor leading to the Pool of Styx and to Hypnos. He was very clearly dozing off as he leaned against a pillar, his clipboard nearly sliding out of his hands and the phoenix-feather quill tucked behind one ear. As if aware of the eyes on him, Hypnos startled awake, coughing unsubtly as he straightened.

Thanatos turned back to Hades, who was already pulling another scroll towards him; the unspoken dismissal was clear enough. He bowed, briefly, before sidling away along the eastern halls.

Zagreus wasn’t going to like the news.


End file.
